Power In Lord Of The Flies

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Look around the room, look at the similarities and the differences. Observe the colors, cultures, languages, and styles. Now notice the major commonality. We're all human beings. Living, breathing, human beings, all capable of destroying ourselves and our surroundings. Lord of the Flies, a novel based on a group of school boys trapped on a deserted island after a plane crash, displays how corrupt one can be. When the boys try to work together to form a society in order to survive and hopefully get back home, the fight for dominance and authority splits the individuals from what should be their priorities. The individuals drift off from balancing their three main priorities: maintaining a fire, finding food, and creating shelter. Lord of The …show more content…

Ralph representing the ego, has the role of voicing and taking most of the advice the superego has to offer and he finds common ground between the id and superego. Protecting his community, maintaining order, and standing up for Piggy becomes a problem for Ralph. The ego serves the role of the leader, typically taking advice from the superego but tries to meet both the id and superego halfway, while doing so he suffers from social pressures of his peers (Henningfield 142). These social pressures, mostly coming from Jack, contradict what Ralph needs to do to keep the structure of his community strong. While so wrapped up in how Jack feels, Ralph truly destroys the society he’s created. The influence that males have on other males could be quite dangerous, it causes individuals to not reflect on their actions and consequences as much as they should be (Bryfonski 72). Unfortunately Ralph is driven by other males and he finds himself doing many things that are unlikely of himself. In the beginning of Lord of The Flies, Jack is extremely disrespectful to Piggy and calls him by the name Fatty and completely disregards the rules of the conch when it’s Piggy’s turn to speak, while Ralph does nothing but watch and laugh (Golding 45). Due to Ralphs idea of fitting in and belonging with Jack Merridew he forgets his role as the ego and strains the relationship he has with the superego, Piggy. This pattern continues all throughout the book to the point where the ego loses the power he once had and can’t do anything about the abuse the superego is facing. Finally, one day he can’t stop the death of the superego because all the power he once had is now gone. While the boys do fit their own psychological traits, they're all boys and they share the effects of peer pressure in common. This peer pressure strips the ego and the superego of their true role and thus creates chaos in the

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